Downhole well tubulars sometimes develop leaks and need to be repaired. On technique to make such a repair is called cement squeezing. In this technique, cement is pumped into an isolated zone and hopefully into the damaged portions and the cement is allowed to set up. After setup the excess cement is drilled out of the wellbore and the repair is pressure tested to see if it has been successful. If it still fails to hold pressure the process can be repeated as many times as necessary until pressure integrity is regained. This process can work but it is extremely time consuming and could get very expensive if ultimately it doesn't work in a particular application. The cement is brittle and can break over time. These types of patches are difficult to make in a short interval and progressively get more problematic with a longer interval.
Another technique is to place a patch in the area of the damaged tubular and expand the patch into a sealing relationship. This technique is well known and it will also reduce the inside diameter of the wellbore.
What is needed and provided by the present invention is a technique for patching a tubular downhole without reducing the inside resulting diameter and without aggravating the existing failure in the tubular that has brought the need to apply a patch. The details of the method will be more readily understood by those skilled in the art from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and the claims that appear below.